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Does Zakk Let It Be or Let It Bleed? Read on and find out (© Tim Mosenfelder/Corbis)

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Zakk Wylde sprawls his massive frame on the couch in his Manhattan hotel suite and gulps coffee. This is his second cup since I've been in the room, and the guitarist will have several more during the course of our interview.

"Caffeine's all I got, bro," he says. "It's a sad, sad tale of woe, this pitiful existence of mine." And with that, he breaks into fake, overwrought sobs. "I'd cry in my beer, but look around - not a drop in the house. It's tragic!"

In truth, Wylde is brimming with good-natured cheer - which is especially surprising when you consider that the once two-fisted drinker has had to abstain from alcohol - doctor's orders - following a potentially life-threatening bout with blood clots last summer.

It's been a tumultuous year on the professional front as well: after 21 years of working with Ozzy Osbourne, a collaboration that bordered more on a father-and-son relationship than boss and employee, Wylde was replaced - unceremoniously, it would appear - by the little-known Greek guitarist Gus G.

Wylde, in town to promote his new Epiphone Graveyard Disciple guitar (we'll have exclusive video later in the week) and play a sold-out show with his band Black Label Society, addresses his health and the Ozzy situation bluntly - and, as you would imagine, humorously - in part 2 of our interview (also later this week).

For now, however, as his wife Barbaranne breezes in and out to make sure his coffee cup is refilled, Wylde kicks back and holds court, answering a few questions from MusicRadar readers - and one special mind-bender of our own.

"I learned pinch harmonics from hearing guys like Billy Gibbons on Tush and Le Grange. I remember saying to my guitar teacher, 'That's such a cool sound. How does he do that?'"

Thereformant asks, How do you get such articulate pinch harmonics?

"How? Well, I'll let the world in my little secret, Joe. You ready? Here it is…[leans in close and whispers] it's from pinching Barbaranne's sweet ti-tays! [laughs uproariously] Years of practice, years of pleasure, bro. And even with repetition, it never gets old. [laughs]

"OK, seriously? You want the straight answer? It's not nearly as good. I ended up learning pinch harmonics from hearing guys like Billy Gibbons on Tush and Le Grange. Billy does it on the D and G strings. I remember saying to my guitar teacher at the time, 'That's such a cool sound. How does he do that?' and he showed me.

"So I practiced doing them all over the neck. Different scales, different sounds. It's just like anything. It's like lifting weights. Practice, practice, practice. Repetition, repetition, repetition.

"Then I heard guys like Roni Le Tekro from TNT doing them, and he was fucking amazing. Talk about an underrated player, that guy. Totally awesome.

"Later on, when I got in the studio, I started doubling the pinch harmonics, doing one on the D and the other on the G - I think that's how I put my spin on the whole thing, bending their sound in the studio. Cool shit you can do with 'em."

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